Memo: Police likely to be over budget

More money will be required for overtime during the holidays, the chief said.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- The township police department is on track to overspend its budget by more than $125,000 with overtime pay for officers and other department employees.
According to a memo from Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson to Township Administrator Curt Seditz, the department, as of Oct. 1, would likely be $113,898 over budget for police officers and $19,678 over budget for other employees by the end of the year.
In the memo, Patterson said the overage can be attributed to personnel shortages because of illness and injury, and the impact those shortages have had on minimal staffing levels. The department, according to a labor contract, must have six officers on each shift, one of which must be a supervisor.
According to the memo, two officers have been off work for a year, an officer has been on light duty since July 5, a sergeant has been on light duty since July 6 and another officer has been off duty since Sept. 8. Earlier this year, the memo said, another officer was on light duty for four weeks and a dispatcher was off work for seven weeks.
One officer recently left work and is expected to be off for eight weeks. Another officer has recently resigned, leaving a vacancy in the department's ranks.
Meeting requirements
Patterson said overtime is used to cover the empty shifts and meet staffing requirements. He is asking trustees for a supplemental appropriation to cover the overtime cost.
The additional cost comes at a time when Township Clerk Bill Leicht has told trustees the township is spending about $2 million dollars more than it is bringing in annually. Trustees have vowed to cut spending in the next year. The township has a $6.5 million reserve.
Patterson has also asked township trustees for $99,236 to purchase five new police cruisers from Statewide Ford Lincoln Mercury Inc. of Van Wert, Ohio. Clerks office employees say there is enough money in the police department's capital budget to make the purchase.
Trustees approved the purchase in a 2-1 vote. Trustee Kathy Miller voted against the purchase, saying she wanted to go with a local dealer or possibly cars built in Lordstown.
Patterson said the cruisers are needed too badly to disregard buying them in an attempt to offset the overtime cost.
"This is what makes our department run. We cannot provide the service without the cars," he said. "Four years of driving continuously over the 100,000 mile range, you cannot operate an emergency vehicle safely with those high miles. Another problem is that your maintenance cost will go up."
Replacing the fleet
According to Patterson, there are 24 vehicles in the police department fleet. He said those cars are replaced at a rate of about five or six per year so that the entire fleet is replaced every four years.
In the past, the department has been given $200,000 from trustees for such expenses. That amount will be decreased to $100,000 next year. Patterson said that will likely lead to a reduction in the number of cars the department can replace next year.
Trustees, in a unanimous decision, also allocated $13,440 to the police department for overtime in the department's Street Crime Unit through the end of the year.
Patterson said the department attempts to strengthen its community presence during times of the year when there is more crime -- summer months and the Christmas holiday. He said the only way to do that is through overtime in the Street Crime Unit. The $13,440 is not included in the $113,898 overage.
jgoodwin@vindy.com